Google simplifies sharing notes, calendars and photos with family

Vitamins Design wanted an organizational calendar that was "big and visible," so it did what any company would do: it turned to Lego. Using the plastic bricks, Vitamins was able to create a three-month calendar that provides near-instant visual feedback about which employee is scheduled to work on what project and when. Sounds simple enough, right? Here's where it gets interesting: Take a picture of the quarterly chronicle with any smartphone, send the image to a special email address and the block placement will be translated to its Google Calendar equivalent. Even better, the sync software was written using open-source code, and Vitamins plans to make it available online. The company says it'll work with any cloud-based calendar too -- not just Mountain View's. Sounds great, as long as no one's making late-night barefoot runs to the office kitchen.